ETHICS ON INTERNET: POSSIBLE OR PROPABLE: A SOCIO LEGAL STUDY

  • Unique Paper ID: 188166
  • Volume: 10
  • Issue: 12
  • PageNo: 9266-9275
  • Abstract:
  • The aggressive development of the digital world has altered the manner through which individuals interact, carry out business and communication, which raises grave concerns of ethical conduct in the virtual world. In this article, the author discusses the question of whether ethical conduct in the internet is only theoretically possible, or indeed, likely to happen in the real world. It explores the digital environment as a socio-legal complex which is determined by the anonymity, technological design, and the emergence of behavioural patterns and how these three factors affect moral decision making on the internet. The paper presents a thorough examination of the history of the development of internet ethics in global and Indian societies and the ways traditional ethical standards are adjusted or not adjusted to the digital format. It assesses the legal framework of India that regulates online behaviour consisting of statutory provisions, regulatory measures, and judicial interventions to determine the ways in which law tries to institutionalise ethical behaviour. The article evaluates the effectiveness of legal responses to such issues as cyberbullying, data breach, the hate speech, misinformation, and manipulation of algorithms on the basis of real-life case studies. Lastly, the article provides a socio-legal evaluation of the attainability of ethical behaviour online, as it states that digital ethics is not one-sided as users, platforms, and the state all have a role in ensuring it. The research suggests ways of enhancing ethical digital citizenship by analysing the technological impacts, structural constraints and behavioural motivation. It concludes that although internet use can be ethical, it is highly improbable without strong legal changes, responsibility by the platform, digital literacy and the cultural change to responsible digital use.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2025 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{188166,
        author = {Dr. K. Prasanna Rani and Dr. T. Raghu Ram},
        title = {ETHICS ON INTERNET: POSSIBLE OR PROPABLE: A SOCIO LEGAL STUDY},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {10},
        number = {12},
        pages = {9266-9275},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=188166},
        abstract = {The aggressive development of the digital world has altered the manner through which individuals interact, carry out business and communication, which raises grave concerns of ethical conduct in the virtual world. In this article, the author discusses the question of whether ethical conduct in the internet is only theoretically possible, or indeed, likely to happen in the real world. It explores the digital environment as a socio-legal complex which is determined by the anonymity, technological design, and the emergence of behavioural patterns and how these three factors affect moral decision making on the internet. The paper presents a thorough examination of the history of the development of internet ethics in global and Indian societies and the ways traditional ethical standards are adjusted or not adjusted to the digital format. It assesses the legal framework of India that regulates online behaviour consisting of statutory provisions, regulatory measures, and judicial interventions to determine the ways in which law tries to institutionalise ethical behaviour. The article evaluates the effectiveness of legal responses to such issues as cyberbullying, data breach, the hate speech, misinformation, and manipulation of algorithms on the basis of real-life case studies. Lastly, the article provides a socio-legal evaluation of the attainability of ethical behaviour online, as it states that digital ethics is not one-sided as users, platforms, and the state all have a role in ensuring it. The research suggests ways of enhancing ethical digital citizenship by analysing the technological impacts, structural constraints and behavioural motivation. It concludes that although internet use can be ethical, it is highly improbable without strong legal changes, responsibility by the platform, digital literacy and the cultural change to responsible digital use.},
        keywords = {Digital ethics, internet behaviour, cyber law, online conduct, socio-legal study, digital platforms, algorithmic accountability, case studies, India, ethical governance.},
        month = {December},
        }

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 10
  • Issue: 12
  • PageNo: 9266-9275

ETHICS ON INTERNET: POSSIBLE OR PROPABLE: A SOCIO LEGAL STUDY

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